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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Promises, promises – then and now

In The Big Chill two characters have this exchange:-

Read the full story here

TheScreamingEagles

E pluribus unum.

FrancisUrquhart

I wonder if Covid could scar many southern areas (so used to high employment in service sectors) in the way mass de-industrialation did in the North.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8722111/Quiet-streets-Gatwick-ghost-town.html

The attraction of places like Crawley was not just jobs at the airport but really good links into London. If people don't need to commute in daily, why would you live there? Which then has a huge snowball effect on all the jobs that support the fact there is a large numbers of well paid commuters.

CorrectHorseBattery

FPT: Tony Blair was the best PM of my life

TheScreamingEagles

FPT

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Tony Blair was the best PM of my life

Was it the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis that helped you reach that judgment?

TheScreamingEagles

England shitting the bed here.

CorrectHorseBattery

TheScreamingEagles said:

FPT

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Tony Blair was the best PM of my life

Was it the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis that helped you reach that judgment?

Except for Iraq, he changed the country for the better and undoubtedly in the UK a society existed until 2010.

TheScreamingEagles

What the actual fecking feck?

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1304472674375262208

FrancisUrquhart

TheScreamingEagles said:

England shitting the bed here.

Don't forget the old adage, England bat deep....

NerysHughes

Mask wearing Spain new cases today 12183. Non mask wearing Sweden new cases today 201. Who has the best policy ?

MaxPB

TheScreamingEagles said:

What the actual fecking feck?

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1304472674375262208

That rumour has been going around in broadcast circles for a while. The party people dope him up just before a debate so he doesn't completey tank. I heard it ages ago, not sure the veracity.

Richard_Nabavi

MaxPB said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

What the actual fecking feck?

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1304472674375262208

That rumour has been going around in broadcast circles for a while. The party people dope him up just before a debate so he doesn't completey tank. I heard it ages ago, not sure the veracity.

Can't Trump get hold of the same stuff?

MaxPB

One thing that has begun to bother me is the incessant negativity about the UK (and US) virus approach from the media and completely letting Spain and France off the hook. It's almost as if there's an agenda there.

IshmaelZ

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Omnium said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Omnium said:

CorrectHorseBattery said:

This is the worst Government of my - albeit, short - lifetime

I had you as older than 10.

I'm obviously 12

Brown's time was in my view the worst phase in recent years. I know nobody likes Blair, but he was a good PM.

The 70s, Heath, Wilson, Callaghan were worse, by far, than anything recent.

The coalition government with Cameron and Clegg was really good.

May was good too - She will finish up rather unfairly and unluckily judged.

Boris - few PMs have faced such a challenge. We'll see,

David Cameron was the worst Prime Minister since Lord North.

I have never really seen the case against Lord North made. He lasted 12 years ( a feeble metric but 1,000 times less feeble than the commonly spouted bollocks about how many GEs x won with what size swings, since it says something about how he did the job rather than how he got it), heroic victor of a Falklands crisis, but lost a war in the days when, comms being what they were, wars were won or lost by the generals and admirals, not the PMs.

DecrepiterJohnL

The MP for Newcastle under Lyme being PB's own @Tissue_Price, of course.

MaxPB

Richard_Nabavi said:

MaxPB said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

What the actual fecking feck?

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1304472674375262208

That rumour has been going around in broadcast circles for a while. The party people dope him up just before a debate so he doesn't completey tank. I heard it ages ago, not sure the veracity.

Can't Trump get hold of the same stuff?

Also part of the rumour tbf.

Richard_Nabavi

MaxPB said:

One thing that has begun to bother me is the incessant negativity about the UK (and US) virus approach from the media and completely letting Spain and France off the hook. It's almost as if there's an agenda there.

That's a fair point.

FrancisUrquhart

MaxPB said:

One thing that has begun to bother me is the incessant negativity about the UK (and US) virus approach from the media and completely letting Spain and France off the hook. It's almost as if there's an agenda there.

Its weird how when we actually had a zero death day they were really quiet and they still stick with the flawed numbers for ages after it was clear there was an issue...Initially you could put it down to misunderstanding of the stats, but they have been told time and time again by academics they were incorrect.

And that the number of tests we now do far exceed most countries.

I reckon most people still think that we don't do many tests and that deaths are still really high. The fact 10x as many people die of flu at the moment is completely lost.

Barnesian

Great article Cyclefree. Thought provoking. Very deep and a bit depressing.

Richard_Nabavi

The worry is that we are just three or four weeks behind:

https://twitter.com/redouad/status/1304468526829309953

glw

TheScreamingEagles said:

What the actual fecking feck?

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1304472674375262208

That's a tell. A lot of people have wondered about Trump using some stimulants, and here he is accusing others of the same thing.

Barnesian

MaxPB said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

What the actual fecking feck?

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1304472674375262208

That rumour has been going around in broadcast circles for a while. The party people dope him up just before a debate so he doesn't completey tank. I heard it ages ago, not sure the veracity.

It's complete rubbish. What do you mean - you're not sure of the veracity!!!!

WhisperingOracle

Richard_Nabavi said:

The worry is that we are just three or four weeks behind:

https://twitter.com/redouad/status/1304468526829309953

That is the first genuinely worrying graph I've seen since April. Let's hope the circumstances aren't the same here, as France and Britain do seem to have diverged substantially on this since the summer too.

HYUFD

The Tories promised last year to leave the EU, end EU sovereignty over UK law, end free movement, do our own trade deals and regain control over our fishing waters, if the EU do not agree a trade deal accepting that then the Tory manifesto also promised not to extend the implementation period beyond that.

TheScreamingEagles

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

CorrectHorseBattery

Excellent header @Cyclefree as usual

CorrectHorseBattery

Richard_Nabavi said:

The worry is that we are just three or four weeks behind:

https://twitter.com/redouad/status/1304468526829309953

I am afraid to say I think it's inevitable we end up there.

FrancisUrquhart

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that? Were they behind this Internal Market Bill?

DecrepiterJohnL

@Cyclefree's header said it is hard to understand the strategy. I'm not sure there is one. I do not think Boris knows what is going on, and that is why he lurches from one position to the next and back again. He is not lying, simply overreacting to events that are outside his control.

Mexicanpete

CorrectHorseBattery said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

FPT

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Tony Blair was the best PM of my life

Was it the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis that helped you reach that judgment?

Except for Iraq, he changed the country for the better and undoubtedly in the UK a society existed until 2010.

I rate Blair too, but your caveat is a bit like Ted Bundy was a great guy except for the serial killings.

HYUFD

NerysHughes said:

Mask wearing Spain new cases today 12183. Non mask wearing Sweden new cases today 201. Who has the best policy ?

Mask wearing South Korea new cases today 176

MaxPB

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

IshmaelZ

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Just think of it as Peshwari naan and eat it with curry. The problem with pizza is not the toppings, it's the pizza. Bread for people who find breadmaking too difficult.

Barnesian

glw said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

What the actual fecking feck?

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1304472674375262208

That's a tell. A lot of people have wondered about Trump using some stimulants, and here he is accusing others of the same thing.

I think you are right. Trump often does that. It's a real giveaway.

TheScreamingEagles

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that? Were they behind this Internal Market Bill?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

FrancisUrquhart

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

No wonder they are going bust.

glw

FrancisUrquhart said:

MaxPB said:

One thing that has begun to bother me is the incessant negativity about the UK (and US) virus approach from the media and completely letting Spain and France off the hook. It's almost as if there's an agenda there.

Its weird how when we actually had a zero death day they were really quiet and they still stick with the flawed numbers for ages after it was clear there was an issue...Initially you could put it down to misunderstanding of the stats, but they have been told time and time again by academics they were incorrect.

And that the number of tests we now do far exceed everybody else.

I reckon most people still think that we don't do many tests and that deaths are still really high. The fact 10x as many people die of flu at the moment is completely lost.

We do way more tests than any comparable nation. So if we aren't doing enough here, then countries like Italy, Spain, and France must have truly dismal testing.

Pulpstar

DecrepiterJohnL said:

The MP for Newcastle under Lyme being PB's own @Tissue_Price, of course.

I hope he got to enjoy Fabricant's rendition of 'Rule Brittania!' today.

stodge

Evening all

Thank you for the thread, @Cyclefree and I hope all is well with you and yours.

I don't think this has much to do with Brexit and the facade about parliamentary sovereignty is just that. To me, the proposals don't enhance the power of Parliament but the power of Ministers who are, in theory, accountable to Parliament but in a Commons with an 80-seat majority are only really accountable to the favour of the Prime Minister.

This is typical Johnson behaviour - the centralisation of power within his own office or control. He did it in London when Mayor and those who complain about Sadiq Khan should remember he inherited a centralised power structure from Johnson.

The relationship between Executive and Legislature and the checks and balances therein derive from the degree of accountability of Ministers to Parliament. The summoning of Ministers to answer questions and make statements and attend Select Committees is part of the oversight and scrutiny function of Parliament.

If more power is devolved upward to Ministers, the control moves directly to the office who appoints and dismisses ministers, No.10. This Bill is about centralising more power in No.10 and the Cabinet office who will obviously tell Ministers what to do and when to do it.

It has to be resisted not because of Brexit (part of the facade) but because it creates an over-powerful Executive and weakens the Legislature. I'd like to see Starmer commit to restoring Parliamentary sovereignty were he to become Prime Minister as part of a devolutionary agenda to re-invigorate democracy at all levels.

FrancisUrquhart

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

Weirdly the same lack of outrage of Macron buddying up to Trump even more than Boris, rolling out the biggest of big red carpets....When he does it, it is all about international diplomacy, when Boris does it, it is because he loves everything about the Donald.

Philip_Thompson

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Ooh I want to try that. Thanks for the tip, please keep them coming.

CorrectHorseBattery

https://twitter.com/Owen_Riches/status/1304468549201727489

MaxPB

glw said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MaxPB said:

One thing that has begun to bother me is the incessant negativity about the UK (and US) virus approach from the media and completely letting Spain and France off the hook. It's almost as if there's an agenda there.

Its weird how when we actually had a zero death day they were really quiet and they still stick with the flawed numbers for ages after it was clear there was an issue...Initially you could put it down to misunderstanding of the stats, but they have been told time and time again by academics they were incorrect.

And that the number of tests we now do far exceed everybody else.

I reckon most people still think that we don't do many tests and that deaths are still really high. The fact 10x as many people die of flu at the moment is completely lost.

We do way more tests than any comparable nation. So if we aren't doing enough here, then countries like Italy, Spain, and France must have truly dismal testing.

Italy does around 120k tests per day and they have capacity to double it overnight (though we said the same so who knows how realistic that is). Spain and France are doing nowhere near enough testing, their true infection rate is probably close to double.

TheScreamingEagles

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

No wonder they are going bust.

Yup. They need to be closed down by the local food standards agency.

Pulpstar

CorrectHorseBattery said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

The worry is that we are just three or four weeks behind:

https://twitter.com/redouad/status/1304468526829309953

I am afraid to say I think it's inevitable we end up there.

Waiting for the lockdown sceptics here to once again move the goalposts.

Richard_Nabavi

IshmaelZ said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Just think of it as Peshwari naan and eat it with curry. The problem with pizza is not the toppings, it's the pizza. Bread for people who find breadmaking too difficult.

That's not true of proper Naples or Rome pizzas. The ones which have a base like bad bread (i.e. any pizza in the US, and nearly all here) are not doing it right.

FrancisUrquhart

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

No wonder they are going bust.

Yup. They need to be closed down by the local food standards agency.

Next they will be doing the Chicago style deep dish "pie".

eek

FPT

Richard_Nabavi said:

This is easily, by a country mile, the worst government since WWII. No question about it. Other governments have been poor because they've made mistakes or been a bit rubbish. This one is unique in being intentionally a disaster.

This Government is not intentionally a disaster - for it to be intentional the Government would need levels of planning and skill that this Boris and Co just doesn't have.

We are once again in a story that could never be fiction as all sense of plausibility would have been lost chapters ago and the book thrown in the bin.

dixiedean

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

In what way is Macron "left wing"?

WhisperingOracle

Barnesian said:

Great article Cyclefree. Thought provoking. Very deep and a bit depressing.

Yes. The capacity of the partisan mind to rationalise away almost any inconsistency is virtually limitless - in fact, it's unfortunately a kind of daily requirement of most of our existences, in multiple spheres.

Philip_Thompson

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that? Were they behind this Internal Market Bill?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

That sounds nice. If I was making it at home I'd probably add some Stilton to go with that.

Barnesian

DecrepiterJohnL said:

@Cyclefree's header said it is hard to understand the strategy. I'm not sure there is one. I do not think Boris knows what is going on, and that is why he lurches from one position to the next and back again. He is not lying, simply overreacting to events that are outside his control.

The key is how his MPs react to it.

To quote Cyclefree "In the end, fewer people than we would like to think have the moral courage to stand up for what they say they believe in.That is why group loyalty tends to win out over individual courage and action. .. It’s why the unscrupulous can get away with outrageous behaviour for longer than they should. It’s why so many people like to quote Burke: “For evil to triumph, all it takes is for good men to do nothing.” But few like to put that into practice."

How many honourable Tory MPs are there?

MrEd

FrancisUrquhart said:

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

Weirdly the same lack of outrage of Macron buddying up to Trump even more than Boris, rolling out the biggest of big red carpets....When he does it, it is all about international diplomacy, when Boris does it, it is because he loves everything about the Donald.

UK (and US) bad

EU good

FrancisUrquhart

I can't see how England get to 300 from here.

RobD

Thanks, @Cyclefree!

MrEd

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that? Were they behind this Internal Market Bill?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

I think you protest too much. I bet you have a stack of them
In a secret cupboard along with your Trump 2020 stickers

isam

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

"Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? "

In the French media? We only get to see the bits on here where a left wing foreign paper is slagging off our Govt (its usually prefaced with "This is what the whole of France/Germany/Italy think of us", when its the equivalent of The Guardian criticising a Right Winger)

FrancisUrquhart

Australia taken the Joe Root masterclass on reviews.

NerysHughes

HYUFD said:

NerysHughes said:

Mask wearing Spain new cases today 12183. Non mask wearing Sweden new cases today 201. Who has the best policy ?

Mask wearing South Korea new cases today 176

How is that relevant, I am talking about Europe. Has anyone else noticed that when Governments extend forced mask wearing within 2 weeks their cases double. As an example look at France. Governments will require 2 masks to be worn soon. They are like a compulsive gambler following the martingale system. As a gambler runs out of money they will soon run out of areas where masks have to be worn as if they continue with these mad mask wearing policies cases will continue to rise. It will be masks in bed soon!

DecrepiterJohnL

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

First, Macron is right wing, not left, and second any media outrage in the French media will be in French so does not get covered over here. The reason we have so much American news is that American news channels broadcast it in English.

Philip_Thompson

I've seen reports the EU are threatening now to block food exports by not listing us as a safe country to export to them.

If they do we should repeal the Withdrawal Agreement completely and stop all money payments to them from that. The billions we agreed to pay were to be paid out over years weren't they?

williamglenn

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

It's very nice. No comparison with pineapple on pizza.

kamski

FrancisUrquhart said:

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

Weirdly the same lack of outrage of Macron buddying up to Trump even more than Boris, rolling out the biggest of big red carpets....When he does it, it is all about international diplomacy, when Boris does it, it is because he loves everything about the Donald.

There is just zero coverage of French politics compared to US politics full stop.

People here know about also rans (barely-rans more like) in the contest to become the opposition party presidential candidate for an election months away, but who is the current French prime minister?

Philip_Thompson

DecrepiterJohnL said:

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

First, Macron is right wing, not left, and second any media outrage in the French media will be in French so does not get covered over here. The reason we have so much American news is that American news channels broadcast it in English.

Macron who was in the Socialist party is right wing?

Yeah pull the other one.

stodge

As for today's American election, thin gruel after the midweek feast. Rasmussen puts Trump up 48-46 in North Carolina. It's a 1000 Likely voter sample and I note the East Carolina University poll at the end of last month which had Trump up 49-47 had a 1101 LV sample whereas other polls showing Biden in front have much smaller samples.

To be fair, with a 3% Margin of Error it's a dead heat so all to play for.

A state not likely to be a dead heat is Indiana which since 1960 has only voted Democrat in 1964 and 2008. The latest poll has Trump ahead 53-39 which is very similar to the April poll and compares with a 19 point Trump lead last time. A smaller swing to Biden than in some Republican strongholds but I'm sure Indiana is so far down the Democrat target list it is subterranean.

nichomar

NerysHughes said:

HYUFD said:

NerysHughes said:

Mask wearing Spain new cases today 12183. Non mask wearing Sweden new cases today 201. Who has the best policy ?

Mask wearing South Korea new cases today 176

How is that relevant, I am talking about Europe. Has anyone else noticed that when Governments extend forced mask wearing within 2 weeks their cases double. As an example look at France. Governments will require 2 masks to be worn soon. They are like a compulsive gambler following the martingale system. As a gambler runs out of money they will soon run out of areas where masks have to be worn as if they continue with these mad mask wearing policies cases will continue to rise. It will be masks in bed soon!

Give up stop posting nightly crap

Richard_Nabavi

Philip_Thompson said:

I've seen reports the EU are threatening now to block food exports by not listing us as a safe country to export to them.

If they do we should repeal the Withdrawal Agreement completely and stop all money payments to them from that. The billions we agreed to pay were to be paid out over years weren't they?

See my explanations to @HYUFD on the previous thread. They are not threatening anything, they are explaining the obvious.

ydoethur

THe only group currently more useless, craven, incompetent and confused than the cabinet are England’s batsmen.

Discuss.

Tres

Sir Bob O'Neill?

isam

Sweden is now off the Quarantine list... but will they accept people from a country with such a crazy Covid policy?

TheScreamingEagles

williamglenn said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

It's very nice. No comparison with pineapple on pizza.

Oh William, I used to respect you so much....

ydoethur

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

No boss, you misheard. I did not say I had a grape idea.

Pulpstar

Interesting header, I expect the MP for Newxastle Under Lyme's priority is pleasing Cummings rather than Cyclefree though.

FrancisUrquhart

ydoethur said:

THe only group currently more useless, craven, incompetent and confused than the cabinet are England’s batsmen.

Discuss.

Throughout the summer England have continually tested the "down to the last possible" partnership to dig them out of trouble.

Philip_Thompson

FrancisUrquhart said:

I can't see how England get to 300 from here.

They'd have to get a 6 from a No Ball in the 50th over to get to 300 surely?

ydoethur

Philip_Thompson said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

I can't see how England get to 300 from here.

They'd have to get a 6 from a No Ball in the 50th over to get to 300 surely?

More like 60 no balls in the fifty overs.

rcs1000

NerysHughes said:

HYUFD said:

NerysHughes said:

Mask wearing Spain new cases today 12183. Non mask wearing Sweden new cases today 201. Who has the best policy ?

Mask wearing South Korea new cases today 176

How is that relevant, I am talking about Europe. Has anyone else noticed that when Governments extend forced mask wearing within 2 weeks their cases double. As an example look at France. Governments will require 2 masks to be worn soon. They are like a compulsive gambler following the martingale system. As a gambler runs out of money they will soon run out of areas where masks have to be worn as if they continue with these mad mask wearing policies cases will continue to rise. It will be masks in bed soon!

Is it because the DNA of South Koreans and Japanese is different to Europeans?

nichomar

Barnesian said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

@Cyclefree's header said it is hard to understand the strategy. I'm not sure there is one. I do not think Boris knows what is going on, and that is why he lurches from one position to the next and back again. He is not lying, simply overreacting to events that are outside his control.

The key is how his MPs react to it.

To quote Cyclefree "In the end, fewer people than we would like to think have the moral courage to stand up for what they say they believe in.That is why group loyalty tends to win out over individual courage and action. .. It’s why the unscrupulous can get away with outrageous behaviour for longer than they should. It’s why so many people like to quote Burke: “For evil to triumph, all it takes is for good men to do nothing.” But few like to put that into practice."

How many honourable Tory MPs are there?

They threw the honorable ones out.

Alistair

Richard_Nabavi said:

IshmaelZ said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Just think of it as Peshwari naan and eat it with curry. The problem with pizza is not the toppings, it's the pizza. Bread for people who find breadmaking too difficult.

That's not true of proper Naples or Rome pizzas. The ones which have a base like bad bread (i.e. any pizza in the US, and nearly all here) are not doing it right.

The best pizza I have ever eaten was Keste in New York. Owned by a immigrant from Naples with the pizza oven shipped over.

IanB2

Philip_Thompson said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that? Were they behind this Internal Market Bill?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

That sounds nice. If I was making it at home I'd probably add some Stilton to go with that.

Yes, I haven’t been to PE for a while but Veneziana used to be one of my favourites. They used to donate 10p to some Venice charity for each one.

Anyhow the way things are going we won’t be able to source exotic ingredients like pineapple or sultanas in 2021. It’ll be apples and pears.

HYUFD

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1304441888708136962?s=20

Philip_Thompson

nichomar said:

Barnesian said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

@Cyclefree's header said it is hard to understand the strategy. I'm not sure there is one. I do not think Boris knows what is going on, and that is why he lurches from one position to the next and back again. He is not lying, simply overreacting to events that are outside his control.

The key is how his MPs react to it.

To quote Cyclefree "In the end, fewer people than we would like to think have the moral courage to stand up for what they say they believe in.That is why group loyalty tends to win out over individual courage and action. .. It’s why the unscrupulous can get away with outrageous behaviour for longer than they should. It’s why so many people like to quote Burke: “For evil to triumph, all it takes is for good men to do nothing.” But few like to put that into practice."

How many honourable Tory MPs are there?

They threw the honorable ones out.

That would be the honourable ones like Grieve who pledged to hold an EU referendum, decided they didn't like the result but pledged at the election to respect it anyway . . . then determined they would reject every single type of Brexit?

That kind of "honourable"?

HYUFD

https://twitter.com/Politics_Polls/status/1304456070916648960?s=20

SouthamObserver

Today in sovereignty and taking back control, the UK Prime Minister has run away from questions posed by, er, Tory MPs.

Pulpstar

HYUFD said:

https://twitter.com/Politics_Polls/status/1304456070916648960?s=20

Reassuringly close from Rasmussen.

MaxPB

kamski said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

Weirdly the same lack of outrage of Macron buddying up to Trump even more than Boris, rolling out the biggest of big red carpets....When he does it, it is all about international diplomacy, when Boris does it, it is because he loves everything about the Donald.

There is just zero coverage of French politics compared to US politics full stop.

People here know about also rans (barely-rans more like) in the contest to become the opposition party presidential candidate for an election months away, but who is the current French prime minister?

No one cares who the French PM is, it's like asking who the senate leader is in the US. Everyone knows Macron and the excuses that the British media don't have any French speakers is laughable. The fact of the matter is that the media outrage will never exist for virtuous nations, it will only be for evil ones like the UK (and US) despite France and Macron having as crap a time of it as the UK and Boris.

ydoethur

SouthamObserver said:

Today in sovereignty and taking back control, the UK Prime Minister has run away from questions posed by, er, Tory MPs.

I suppose the advantage of Zoom and social distancing is he no longer has to hide in a fridge.

HYUFD

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1304447417241210881?s=20

DecrepiterJohnL

Philip_Thompson said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

First, Macron is right wing, not left, and second any media outrage in the French media will be in French so does not get covered over here. The reason we have so much American news is that American news channels broadcast it in English.

Macron who was in the Socialist party is right wing?

Yeah pull the other one.

Yes. The Macron who set up his own party, and declared himself a centrist, is governing from the right.

MaxPB

rcs1000 said:

NerysHughes said:

HYUFD said:

NerysHughes said:

Mask wearing Spain new cases today 12183. Non mask wearing Sweden new cases today 201. Who has the best policy ?

Mask wearing South Korea new cases today 176

How is that relevant, I am talking about Europe. Has anyone else noticed that when Governments extend forced mask wearing within 2 weeks their cases double. As an example look at France. Governments will require 2 masks to be worn soon. They are like a compulsive gambler following the martingale system. As a gambler runs out of money they will soon run out of areas where masks have to be worn as if they continue with these mad mask wearing policies cases will continue to rise. It will be masks in bed soon!

Is it because the DNA of South Koreans and Japanese is different to Europeans?

That might be a factor tbf, the studies haven't been done on susceptibility. Though I'm not saying it is, just that we don't know until someone actually does the research.

stodge

Philip_Thompson said:

Macron who was in the Socialist party is right wing?

Yeah pull the other one.

The last polling for the 2022 Presidential election I saw had Macron on 28% leading Le Pen on 25% with Baroin and Melanchon on 12-13%.

It'll need something remarkable to change this - presumably Macron will run again and if/when it comes to a run off with Marine Le Pen, he will win comfortably.The French centre-right didn't do badly in the recent local elections (nor did the Greens oddly enough) but are making no impression in the Presidential contest.

dixiedean

MaxPB said:

kamski said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

Weirdly the same lack of outrage of Macron buddying up to Trump even more than Boris, rolling out the biggest of big red carpets....When he does it, it is all about international diplomacy, when Boris does it, it is because he loves everything about the Donald.

There is just zero coverage of French politics compared to US politics full stop.

People here know about also rans (barely-rans more like) in the contest to become the opposition party presidential candidate for an election months away, but who is the current French prime minister?

No one cares who the French PM is, it's like asking who the senate leader is in the US. Everyone knows Macron and the excuses that the British media don't have any French speakers is laughable. The fact of the matter is that the media outrage will never exist for virtuous nations, it will only be for evil ones like the UK (and US) despite France and Macron having as crap a time of it as the UK and Boris.

So you're outraged that the UK media is more outraged about the pandemic in the UK than in France?
I'm bloody furious we don't get 25 minutes a day on Ecuador.

TheScreamingEagles

MaxPB said:

kamski said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MaxPB said:

In per capita terms France is seeing almost double the number of new cases per day vs the US and with a much, much less rigorous testing regime with far fewer tests per day per capita. Where is the media outrage at Macron for fucking it up so badly, why wasn't the French government prepared for the second wave, what steps are they taking to get to 1m tests per day, what policies does France have wrt schools, universities and socialising? I know about ours, of course but I also know about most of the US just from reading our own media.

There is a serious lack of scrutiny of left wing government responses to the virus, apparently cuddly lefties can't be bad at these things, only baby eating right wingers are evil and let everyone die of it.

Weirdly the same lack of outrage of Macron buddying up to Trump even more than Boris, rolling out the biggest of big red carpets....When he does it, it is all about international diplomacy, when Boris does it, it is because he loves everything about the Donald.

There is just zero coverage of French politics compared to US politics full stop.

People here know about also rans (barely-rans more like) in the contest to become the opposition party presidential candidate for an election months away, but who is the current French prime minister?

No one cares who the French PM is, it's like asking who the senate leader is in the US. Everyone knows Macron and the excuses that the British media don't have any French speakers is laughable. The fact of the matter is that the media outrage will never exist for virtuous nations, it will only be for evil ones like the UK (and US) despite France and Macron having as crap a time of it as the UK and Boris.

The French are shit, we all know that, it is like saying water is wet.

I suppose not everyone is as much of a Francophile as I am.

MaxPB

HYUFD said:

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1304447417241210881?s=20

That's YouGov spin, it could easily be put as 62% of Britons agree that Furlough must end for majority of businesses.

TheScreamingEagles

Jonny Bairstow is currently 32* off 70 balls.

Three of his ODI hundreds have come up off fewer deliveries.

Pulpstar

I'm trying and failing to work out how this line of attack from Trump could conceivably be a good idea

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1304480336013922309

ydoethur

England have as much chance of winning this as a journalist has of getting honesty from Cummings.

nichomar

IanB2 said:

Philip_Thompson said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Who the hell even thinks of that? Were they behind this Internal Market Bill?

Pizza Express.

I said they were shit for the bases being so thing they might as well as serve their toppings on air.

But they also do a 'Veneziana' which contains

'Pine kernels, red onion, capers, black olives, sultanas, mozzarella and tomato on a Romana base (pictured). Vegan option available'

https://www.pizzaexpress.com/birmingham-bullring/restaurant-menu/restaurant-menu

That sounds nice. If I was making it at home I'd probably add some Stilton to go with that.

Yes, I haven’t been to PE for a while but Veneziana used to be one of my favourites. They used to donate 10p to some Venice charity for each one.

Anyhow the way things are going we won’t be able to source exotic ingredients like pineapple or sultanas in 2021. It’ll be apples and pears.

Pizza stairs?

Richard_Nabavi

Alistair said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

IshmaelZ said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I may have found a worse topping on pizza than pineapple.

Sultanas!

S-U-L-T-A-N-A-S.

Fecking sultanas, the world has gone mad.

Just think of it as Peshwari naan and eat it with curry. The problem with pizza is not the toppings, it's the pizza. Bread for people who find breadmaking too difficult.

That's not true of proper Naples or Rome pizzas. The ones which have a base like bad bread (i.e. any pizza in the US, and nearly all here) are not doing it right.

The best pizza I have ever eaten was Keste in New York. Owned by a immigrant from Naples with the pizza oven shipped over.

I can well believe that.

eek

Philip_Thompson said:

I've seen reports the EU are threatening now to block food exports by not listing us as a safe country to export to them.

If they do we should repeal the Withdrawal Agreement completely and stop all money payments to them from that. The billions we agreed to pay were to be paid out over years weren't they?

Could you provide links to go with your comments - it's incredibly hard to work out what is fact and what is fantasy at the moment...

ydoethur

Pulpstar said:

I'm trying and failing to work out how this line of attack from Trump could conceivably be a good idea

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1304480336013922309

I can see how trying to work that out would be confusing.

Perhaps we should just assume he’s a fuckwit with a mental illness, and leave it at that?